memory

Ever notice how life barrels on whether you are ready or not?

You might not be ready to let go of the moment you are living in.

You might not be ready to let your children grow. Or your business. Or your butt.

But life is what happens while you are enjoying that latest creative venture, or that snuggle with your baby or that bread pudding with dark French chocolate and creme fresh. 

It's like herding cats, trying to keep things from changing. Impossible.

But I can document what is it like in these moments I am loving.  I can photograph my children everyday single day. I can write down my favorite recipes. I can try to describe what it is like to hold Frankie's pudgy little hands. They feel like marshmallows. Soft and downy. 

When these days are long gone, when I am old and lonesome for the good ol' days when my children were young, I can take down my memory books. I will close my eyes and let the memories wash over me. 

In this way I will save today. 

How are you saving your memories?

for her

Why do I carry on?  I ask myself this on day's like yesterday.

Why add more things to do? Why this blog?

At the end of the day, when I laid my head down and stared at the slanted light on the ceiling, I asked myself this.  And then came the still small voice that speaks to me when I am lost and I stop to reflect on my path.  I'm my mind, it is God the Llama. Monocle and all.

You know why.  

And I do.

The answer is my great-great granddaughter.  I'm banking on that girl.  I'm assuming she will care enough to want to know.  About me. And the minutiae of my life.

So today my post if just for her.  This girl I'm banking on.

I want to tell her that I love the sound of water lapping the side of a boat.

I want her to know that after family dinners, my grandpa finds a comfy chair and nods off to sleep with his hands crossed over his belly. And when he does this, it makes me feel that everything is right with the world.

I want to say that I've learned that following the zeitgeist of your time will only make you feel as though you are never enough.  Strike out on your own.

She should know that I love to run my fingertips through the whispy ends of weeds in a meadow.

And that I am painfully shy, but fighting to overcome it.

I want her to know that if the best day of your life is your wedding day, you are in trouble.  If done correctly, the best days are yet to come.

I want to tell this girl so much more. About love and life and how I'm learning to love life.

So I'll keep writing it all down.

For her.

Kelly snapped these photos of me on the sly while I was scouting out spots to shoot our model.  She sent them over as a surprise. That's why I love her.

small but mighty

I'm not much of a scrapper or a journal keeper or note taker for that matter.

But I do blog. Pretty regularly. And I think that counts for something. I keep saying I'm going to get books made of each year I've written Suaviloquy. I really ought to get on that.

But I do write letters to my kids. I wanted to write a little note to Amelie on the day she was blessed. Just a few thoughts on how I felt that day and how much we love her. I thought it would be fun to make it extra special and give her a little scroll letter. It isn't big, but it holds the thoughts I want her to know when she gets older.

I liked it so much I made one in brighter colors.

To make my "Small but Mighty Scroll Letters" you will need to get long strips of paper. I cut mine from a roll of butcher paper. I ran the strip of paper over an ink pad to give it a little color.

I then doodled the back side and wrote my letter on the front. I used sticky dots to adhere the end of the paper to the spool.

I used wooden ribbon spools. They are longer and skinnier than thread spools and I like the way they look like little scrolls. But I also think old wood thread spools would be really cute. I sorted through my beads and found the perfect pair. Then I sorted through my ribbons and found just the right one to tie the beads onto each side of the spool.

I also thought that you could get iron-on transfer paper, type your message and then transfer it onto the back of ribbon or strips of fabric. I think I might try that next.

This is a kid friendly craft project. Of course there are a billion variations you could do to make it more or less mature. I'm going to have the boy make them for his teachers at the end of the year.

If you make some, send me the pics! I love to see where people take my ideas.